Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Attack on Titan Chapter 52 Review – “Krista Lenz”

Attack on Titan Chapter 52 Review –
“Krista Lenz”

Before I
start this, I’d like to make it clear that this review is essentially a trial
run. If I can keep up with reviewing both Bleach
and Attack on Titan, as well as
the weekly Top 10s/Anime Reviews, then I will happily do so. However, if it
turns out that doing all of that will be impossible, then I’ll stop reviewing AoT and focus solely on Bleach and my other weekly articles.

Inside the
safe house, Levi is investigating how clean the place is, much to Eren’s
annoyance. He then goes on to remind everyone present about their task –
namely, blocking the hole in Wall Maria. Armin summarises the plan for
everyone, saying that they intend to use Eren’s Titan form to plug the gap by
having him harden his body, creating a huge statue that seal the hole. Assuming
Armin’s plan were to work, it could theoretically be completed within a day.

God dammit Eren, you had one job.

Levi and
Eren both agree to try this plan, but Zoë wants to do some experiments with
Eren, presumably to ensure that he can actually use the ability first. Due to
recent events, the cities have been getting rougher, and the peace won’t last
for much longer. Despite the urgency of the situation, she still wants to keep
Eren hidden for the moment. This is revealed to be because Pastor Nick was
murdered.

In a
flashback, it’s shown that when Zoë heard the news, the Military Police
prevented her from entering the room where Nick was killed. The two members
also mocked her, pointed out that investigating the murder wasn’t her area of
work, and were generally being obstructive. However, when she was about to
leave, she lied to them, telling the two soldiers that she was unaware that
Nick had ever belonged to the Wall Church. She then continued to spin a lie,
saying that he had been a friend who had fallen on hard times, and that she had
made arrangements for him to use the room.

Strange minds think alike...

Leaving the
two soldiers, Zoë confirms her subordinate’s suspicions that Nick was murdered
by the Military Police, and says that the two soldiers tortured and killed him.
Back in the present, she blames herself for his death. Armin asks how much he
revealed before he died, and Levi asks how many of Nick’s fingernails were
missing. When Zoë replies that all of them had been removed, Levi says that he
most likely didn’t reveal anything, as people who refuse to talk would remain
silent no matter how many fingernails were removed, but other people would talk
as soon as one was removed.

"Getting real tired of your shit, Levi."

With this
information, Levi states that there are two possible options: either they come
out before getting betrayed, or come out by killing those who are betraying
them. Zoë then declares that they should use both methods at the same time.
Later, Connie is telling Eren about how he believes Ymir to be a horrible
person for lying to him, when Krista argues with him and says that Ymir lied to
protect Connie’s feelings. Eren then reflects on how Krista has changed since
she told them about her past.

Or you could just tell everyone you're gay. Or am I misinterpreting?

When she was
young, she helped out on the ranch where she was born, and her mother never did
any work. When she learned to read, she noticed that in every story she read,
the parents always showed love and affection towards their children. Given that
she never spoke to her mother, she had no experience of this, and it’s shown
that she had no friends either. When her mother was reading a book once, Krista
went over to her and attempted to hug her, at which point she was thrown away.
Afterwards, her mother asked why she hadn’t killed her, and walked away crying.

We here at OtakuNuts do not condone child violence. We do, however, find it hilarious.

A few nights
after Wall Maria fell, she was visited by her father, Lord Reiss, who told her
that she was going to live with him. When she was walking to the carriage, she
heard her mother scream, and realised that they were surrounded by men. It
appears that they were there to hurt Lord Reiss by killing Krista and her
mother, and when her mother realises this, she denies being Krista’s mother.
Realising that there’s no other way, Lord Reiss agrees, and claims that they
aren’t related to him. For whatever reason, they decide to kill Krista’s mother
anyway, and she dies wishing that Krista had never been born. Just before they
were about to kill Krista, Reiss proposes that she be moved far away to start a
new life under another name. At this point, Krista finishes her story.

Meh. Darth Vader did it way better.

Whilst this
chapter did advance the plot, and filled in a few gaps in Krista’s backstory,
it didn’t interest me as much as the previous chapter, and it seemed to lack
momentum when Krista had her flashback. This was especially annoying
considering that we had just learned that the Titans sighted inside Wall Rose
had once been human, and it would have been interesting to find out more about
how and why that happened.

Given that
Nick is now dead, it would appear that there’s no-one to tell the characters
why there are Titans within the walls, as it seems unlikely that Krista would
know about them given her upbringing. The fact that the cities are slowly
falling into chaos probably means that the squads will have their hands full,
meaning that the heroes are pretty much on their own for the most part.

Why not? That's the British answer to everything.

As for
predictions, it’s likely that the next chapter will involve Zoë and Eren
experimenting to see whether or not Eren’s Titan form can turn to stone, and
chances are there will be some problem that hinders his ability to do so.
Hopefully we’ll see more of Levi and Erwin, as their part of the story seems to
be revolving around how the inhabitants of Connie’s village were turned into
Titans, and that’s currently the part of the story that I’m most interested in.

Confirmed Human Death Total: 158 people.

Good Things: The interactions between the squad members.

The mystery
involving Nick’s death.

Most of Krista’s
backstory explained.

Bad Things: Lack
of momentum towards the second half of the chapter.

Krista’s
flashback took up too much time.

Manga Rating: 5/10

ClayDragon:

ClayDragon is currently studying Physics at university, and is constantly bewildered by it. The main method of contacting him is his Gmail account at kyleroulston1993@gmail.com. The alternative is his Skype account at kyleroulston1993. When not playing games or reading, he can be found with his head in his hands whilst trying in vain to understand quantum physics. Accept no imitations.